Field
This invention relates to medical containers, specifically to child proof or locking containers.
Prior Art
The idea of a locking medicine container is far from new. Many attempts have been made to produce a commercial product that is economical and more to the point locks. The following information is given in reference to the field and should by the absence of any such product on the market found to be new and non-obvious.
The problem may lie with the position taken by the authorities and inventors of these products. They seem to want it to be opened easily by adults while denying children access. The pharmaceutical container described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,198 by Mumford is a perfect example of this easy for me attitude.
One inventor in the field Robert M. Hunter has produced several inventive childproof caps. Patents issued are U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,963, U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,729, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,848 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,317,796. In these patents he describes ways to keep children from opening a pharmaceutical container while providing easy use for adults. He does not however mention any intention to keep adults out. The products he has made, while childproof, all lack the strength and durability to deny an adult entrance into the container. These containers with the locking caps are simply defeated by pulling off the top.
A combination cap U.S. Pat. No. 3,684,117 by Leopold et al. is only held together by two small thin pieces of plastic. Pierre U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,828 has its resistant pieces of less than an eighth of an inch. A. Millis U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,954 is another cap type child resistant unit with a limited number of indicia and the same thin plastic parts used to secure the container. The caps of Karl A. Meyer U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,007 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,850,324 are no better. The problem is the same with all of them they were built with components incapable of securing medications from adults.
The container made by Baum U.S. Pat. No. 446,657 falls prey to another shortcoming. The container itself, it is removable from its cap by simply bending the container. The savings bank by Tait U.S. Pat. No. 1,649,372 along with an invention by Small U.S. Pat. No. 7,255,504 give no view of the contents held within the containers. While others are too expensive more are not sterile or are fit to hold medications.
While the list goes on the number of prescription drug dependent teenagers and adults continue to rise. And with no means to prevent unauthorized use of these medications parents and their loved ones will continue to suffer from this problem. Without an alternative locking container at the pharmacy the futures of all too many individuals may be reduced by their own addictive nature.